Humanizing Implantables: The ‘Invisible’ User Experience

implantables

Advances in battery technology, microsensors, and mobile technology networks have brought about a new category of medical products: invisibles. Invisibles—also referred to as implanted devices, insertables, electroceuticals, and digi-ceuticals—hold great promise in improving healthcare delivery and compliance. Unlike wearables, invisibles migrate directly inside the body, where they can’t be stuck in a drawer and forgotten about. Rather, they provide life-saving treatment and/or automatically, continuously, and seamlessly collect precise data, all while causing little to no disturbance in a user’s daily life. For example, K:D partner Endotronix makes an implanted sensor that measures pulmonary artery pressure—an accurate indicator of cardiac function—and transmits the data to the patient’s care team.

Implantables hold the potential to support wellbeing and proactively address preventable diseases in a more meaningful way than wearables ever could. However, there are some glaring problems—including the “creepy factor” of implanting electronics into one’s body—that must be overcome. How can innovators overcome these obstacles? In this Qmed article, Stuart Karten explains how design can play a key role in "humanizing" implantables and altering people’s attitudes toward the technology.

"I believe the technology must be designed to make people feel more human, rather than part machine, by creating a positive user experience that provides them with real value," Stuart says.

To read the full article, click here.